Peter Kenneth: I won’t step down for Mike Sonko

Nairobi gubernatorial aspirant Peter Kenneth addresses his supporters at Jesus Healing Centre Church in Nairobi on July 18, 2017. Mr Kenneth has said he will not drop his bid for Jubilee Party’s Mike Mbuvi Sonko. PHOTO | ANTHONY OMUYA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Saying Nairobi residents were paying heavily for the failed leadership of Governor Evans Kidero and Senator Sonko, Peter Kenneth urged the city’s voters to refuse to be forced into a choice between “the very persons that are the cause of so much pain and suffering”.
  • Mr Kenneth described Mr Mike Sonko as an unmitigated disaster while Dr Evans Kidero “is a consistent loser and should not be allowed to run the county”.

Nairobi independent governorship candidate Peter Kenneth will not drop his bid for Jubilee Party’s Mike Mbuvi Sonko.

In an apparent response to a challenge by President Uhuru Kenyatta last week urging the former Gatanga MP to respect the will of Jubilee voters in the party’s primaries, Mr Kenneth said Nairobi voters should be allowed to make their choice of governor on August 8.

The President told Mr Kenneth on Friday during campaigns in the city: “It is time to abandon your bid and support the winning team of Sonko-Igathe. Njoo tufanye kazi; kazi yako tuko nayo. Mji wa Nairobi wachia Mike Sonko, ambaye watu walichagua (Come over we work together. We will give you a job. Leave Nairobi to Sonko-Igathe, who are the people’s choice).’’

However, on Monday morning, the 2013 presidential candidate said he would not step down and “leave Nairobians to a failed leadership full of  pain” without jobs, water, medicine and hope.

COMPETENT LEADERSHIP

“I humbly request the President to allow Nairobians to make a choice of competent leadership and I ask him to allow Nairobians to decide whom they want as their governor,” Mr Kenneth said in Karen, where he had taken his campaigns.

Saying Nairobi residents were paying heavily for the failed leadership of Governor Evans Kidero and Senator Sonko, he urged the city’s voters to refuse to be blinded and forced into a choice between “the very persons that are the cause of so much pain and suffering”.

He described Mr Sonko as an unmitigated disaster while Dr Kidero “is a consistent loser and should not be allowed to run the county”.

In a statement later, Mr Kenneth said: “I have been to 67 wards and personally witnessed the pain and suffering that Nairobians are going through due to the failed county leadership of Governor Kidero and Senator Sonko.”